Lockpicking XP [3.5]

[Smeggedoff]

I'm trying to work out XP for a module I'm running at the moment and I've hit a stumbling block.
Do I give out Experience for picking locks? And if so how much?

I can't find a CR listing for locks or anything like that.

Thanks

[galan]

no, just like you dont get XP for jump checks. it's just another skill

[jindra34]

Locks don't have a CR. They don't give XP. Silly and stupid maybe, RAW yes.

[Smeggedoff]

Cool, thanks for the super fast replies.

It is kind of weird considering it's an obstacle to be bypassed and almost every other thing in this category DOES grant XP.
So I might give them a small reward anyway, but it's nice to know that I wasn;t overlooking an oddly placed table or something.

[CTrees]

I think the main thing is, even if you screw up badly, it's unlikely to kill you (unless you use really terrible fumble rules). Traps and monsters can kill you. Social situations, handled poorly, can lead to fights and death. Un-trapped locks can lead to... having to take an axe to the door.

[Daer]

.. and axing the door makes sure everyone nearby knows something going on.

Personally would give some exp from lockpicking when it helps towards goal. (while lockpicking random doors would not. )

[galan]

.. and axing the door makes sure everyone nearby knows something going on.

Personally would give some exp from lockpicking when it helps towards goal. (while lockpicking random doors would not. )

in this case, you should also get XP after an hide check- a skill check that stops people from knowing that you are here.

[SilverLeaf167]

If you start handing out XP for every lock picked, beware. Before long you'll have the party rogue sneaking around picking every possible lock in town just for the XP. Any fans of the Elder Scrolls series should know what I'm talking about.

[hymer]

sneaking around picking every possible lock in town just for the XP. Any fans of the Elder Scrolls series should know what I'm talking about.

I never did that! But I did spend a freakish amount of time in Daggerfall swimming moats and climbing city walls.

[Kornaki]

If it was a solid wall and someone cast stone shape to make a hole in it, would you give them experience?

[Telonius]

If you gave out XP for it, it would be for something like, "Get past this barrier." Whether you do it with a lockpick, an axe, a disintegrate spell, marvelous pigments, stealing the key, or polymorphing the door into cottage cheese, wouldn't really matter much. But it also would be a fairly trivial obstacle, so much so that it probably would barely register as a challenge even to a group of first-level adventurers.

[SilverLeaf167]

Lately I've started using "ad hoc leveling": the players level up whenever I find it feels appropriate for the story, approximately based on how much they've achieved. This has reduced the video game mindset of "fighting everything possible in order to get all the XP". Instead, if they want to do something extra, they are rewarded with whatever is logical (like RP opportunities, loot, NPC contacts etc.)

If they throw the plot on a major loop and spend a lot of time doing it, it'll probably count towards their levels, but the only differences between, for example, fighting a huge bunch of guards and avoiding trouble altogether are the in-character ones.

This is pretty much an alternate way of achieving the same thing Telonius recommended.

[lsfreak]

If you gave out XP for it, it would be for something like, "Get past this barrier." Whether you do it with a lockpick, an axe, a disintegrate spell, marvelous pigments, stealing the key, or polymorphing the door into cottage cheese, wouldn't really matter much. But it also would be a fairly trivial obstacle, so much so that it probably would barely register as a challenge even to a group of first-level adventurers.

I'll second this. XP should not be given out based on the exact actions you do, but overcoming an obstacle. You get XP for killing monsters, mind controlling monsters, convincing them to let you buy, bribing them, sneaking past without fighting, and any other way of "beating" them. Likewise if you give XP for opening locked, give XP for getting through the lock in other ways as well. But you probably shouldn't give out XP for getting through a lock.

[Slipperychicken]

Do you give XP for successfully jumping or negotiating? Do you give them for successful attack rolls? Didn't think so.

Skill checks and other rolls are just means by which one can overcome encounters, and don't give XP on their own.

[ericgrau]

Traps have a CR and xp, other hazards do too. Anything that involves danger does. Locks don't. But you can put locks near something dangerous, and watch the fun. Then give xp for that.